In Her Shoes
by WhiteInfinity21
Summary: Sequel to Window of Opportunity. Jareth should have known that pissing Sarah off never leads to good things...


In Her Shoes

By Whiteinfinity21

Disclaimer- I don't own The Labyrinth.

* * *

It was official, Sarah Williams was going to kill the Goblin King.

For the past two weeks, Jareth had been irritating her to no end. He acted like the perfect gentleman around her parents, but when Karen and Robert were out, the gloves came off and Jareth showed his true nature.

Jareth had Karen totally charmed and even her slightly overprotective father grudgingly approved of him. It wasn't like the wild-haired blond deliberately went out of his way to annoy Sarah (no, that was a lie, he seemed to make it his goal in life to drive the teen to her wit's end), but there were certain eccentricities about the Goblin King that got old really fast.

His fascination with her hair was one of them. Whenever he got the chance, Jareth was touching her hair, brushing an errant strand out of her face, burying his face in the middle of the big chocolate brown mass and inhaling its scent (only when there were no parental units in sight, her father would never approve of such an action by her "boyfriend"), ect. The feeling of his long fingers running through her hair was one that Sarah had come to expect at any moment.

At first Sarah merely ignored Jareth's obsession with her hair, but as time went on it became rather bothersome and irritating. Now whenever she felt Jareth doing it, she had to refrain from screaming at him.

The other aspect about the Goblin King's personality that annoyed Sarah the most was his mood swings. Now we're not talking about the kind of mood swings that women get during that time of the month or when they're pregnant; the kind when she is perfectly happy one moment and sad, depressed or furious the next. No, the type of mood swings that the Goblin King displayed was of an entire different sort.

_Only would Jareth have his own brand of mood swings_, Sarah thought as she continued reflecting the events of the past two weeks.

No, the two main moods (more like different personalities really) that the Goblin King alternated between were what Sarah called Prince Charming and the Royal Brat. When Jareth was acting like Prince Charming, he was like a normal easygoing, witty and charming boyfriend that she enjoyed being around. The Royal Brat on the other hand was childish, arrogant, spoiled, stubborn and above all highly annoying. When Jareth was in Royal Brat mode he was prone to temper tantrums and bouts of. Sarah was fond of Prince Charming and rather sick of the Royal Brat, the latter of which was prone to come out when things weren't going Jareth's way.

Sarah supposed that the Royal Brat side of the Goblin King worked rather effectively well on his subjects (they were mostly goblins after all), but having to deal with first Karen and then Toby as well had made Sarah pretty much immune to the Royal Brat (it also helped that she recently graduated from being a Royal Brat to a more well-behaved, Responsible Young Lady herself).

There was a third character mode that Jareth occasionally slipped into, one that only came out when they had the house to themselves. Whenever Pervy Jareth came out, a swift smack was Sarah's typical response.

Now when did this all begin you ask?

Well it began two weeks and two days ago when the oh-so-graceful Goblin King managed to fly headfirst into the closed balcony door of her parents' room. So what does one do when they are confronted with a Goblin King that is incapable of leaving due to his own self-inflicted injuries?

The answer, spend the next day hiding said Goblin King from one's parents (including playing sick to get out of school to make sure that he doesn't electrocute himself trying to use the microwave) till he had healed enough to be able to return to the Underground.

Of course what Jareth failed to mention was that since Sarah had (grudgingly) helped the Goblin King when he was injured was that he owed his reluctant hostess a debt- one that needed to be repaid before the Labyrinth would let him return to his castle.

This left Sarah in a pickle. She had a fully-healed Goblin King who needed to discharge a debt to her before he could leave and no idea what he could do to repay it (banishing her step-mother to the Bog of Eternal Stench wouldn't count). The Champion of the Labyrinth really didn't want to explain to her parents why she had been hiding a guy in her room for the last sixteen hours and wanted to get the Goblin King home fast.

Cue Karen and her announcement of her Robert's business dinner that evening. Sarah would do anything to avoid having to attend one of her father's dinner parties that he hosted for his business colleagues at his house. She needed a way out fast and Sarah had figured that a certain Goblin King sitting up in her room was her ticket out of the house that evening.

Karen was all about showing family unity at her husband's business dinners and therefore always required Sarah to attend such events. About the only thing that the desperate teen figured that would get her out of her father's business dinner was a date (Karen had been harping at her for quite sometime about Sarah's lack of it). So going on a date, even if it was with her "guest" upstairs, was the perfect excuse to escape death by boring business talk. An added bonus was that it would finally get the Goblin King out of her house afterwards as well.

Sarah's date with Jareth was actually quite pleasant much to her surprise. The night flew by and before she knew it, they were standing next to the backdoor that lead into the dinning room. Sarah had given Jareth a good-night kiss while he bestowed a necklace with protection spells in it and one of his crystals that he claimed would show Sarah her heart's desire.

Then it was time for him to go and Sarah watched in awe and wonderment as Jareth transformed into an owl and then in dismay as he flew right into the tree next to her bedroom window. It seemed that along with making a wonderful partner for a date that the Goblin King had a chronic case of clumsiness. How could someone be able to gracefully twirl and juggle those crystals of his like that and yet manage to fly straight into stationary objects twice within the course of two days was beyond Sarah.

The man was a walking contradiction. Graceful when using his unique brand of magic, a total klutz when trying to make a dramatic exit in owl form. Sarah had a pretty good suspicion that she was falling in love with the impossible man, if not in love with him already. But even with her developing feelings for Jareth, Sarah was ready to throw him out of the house.

Whether it was just pure luck or divine intervention, Jareth's second brief flight into a stationary object resulted in much lighter injuries than his first attempt at making a dramatic exit from her parent's bedroom. When the Goblin King had flew into the tree outside her bedroom and then fell down to the ground with a loud thud, the only damage he managed to incur was a sprained wrist and a slight concussion. Of course the parental had been woken up by the sounds of Jareth's crash and Sarah's exasperated scream, and sure enough minutes later, they were rushing outside to investigate all the commotion.

What they had found was Sarah berating her date for being such a klutz with Jareth sulking at being the recipient of Sarah's scolding. Immediately Karen put on her good Samaritan persona that she used out in public (Sarah wasn't fooled, she knew what a tyrant her step-mother really was when they were alone) and was cooing and fussing over Sarah's injured date as she bundled Jareth up, crammed him and Robert into Karen's mini-van and drove them to the UR (Sarah had been left behind to watch Toby even though Jareth _was_ her date).

An hour and a half later, Sarah woke up after drifting off on the couch while watching late-night TV, got up with a put-on sigh and went out to greet the walking wounded (aka the Goblin King) and his entourage as Karen pulled the mini-van into the garage. Much to Sarah's disgust, Karen was still fussing over Jareth who now sported his left arm in a sling as they entered the living room, the expression on the Goblin King's face a mixture between irritation and panic. Sarah was pleased to find that she wasn't the only one who found Karen to be superficial and overwhelming. The moment he spotted her standing in the living room, Jareth made a bee-line towards the amused teen, a look of relief washing over his face.

"How do you put up with that woman?" he hissed.

"By avoiding her as much as possible," Sarah replied with a small, conspiratory grin.

His reprieve was cut short by Karen's announcement that Jareth would take Sarah's bed while her step-daughter would be banished to the couch, the decision being made after she had found out that Jareth had no place to stay. Karen grabbed Jareth by his uninjured arm and bundled him upstairs to get him settled in Sarah's bed.

The Goblin King shot a pleading look at Sarah over his shoulder as he disappeared up the stairs. Sarah just merrily waved at him and then went to grab a pillow and a blanket for herself since she would be spending the remainder of the night at on the couch.

_At least I won't have to hide him from my father and Karen anymore,_ Sarah thought as she got comfortable on the couch, _even better, I am no longer the only one that will suffer from Karen's "attentions". _

She snickered at the thought.

Oh yes, things were looking up for her indeed.

* * *

It didn't take too long for Sarah to discover the hidden effect that Jareth had laced into the pendant that he had given to her. At first nothing seemed amiss, and Sarah didn't start to get suspicious until after the third boy had fled after getting a look at her necklace. After spending the entire day watching boys run away from her while she was at school, Sarah had figured out that the other spell that Jareth had placed on her pendant was a guy repellant.

The obvious conclusion that the brunette had drawn from this fact was that Jareth would tolerate no competition from other males when it came to what he thought was his. Though while the fact that Jareth considered Sarah as his did irritate her quite a bit, it actually was quite amusing to watch the boys flee from her in terror while she walked down the hallways between classes (it made getting to her next class much easier). Nevertheless, Jareth was due to have some serious ego-deflation when she got home, it wouldn't be right for his head to get too big to fit through the doorways.

Pissed off and rather annoyed as well, Sarah got out of the yellow school bus that stopped at the end of her block, the smell of burning rubber filling the air as the bus driver floored the gas pedal to get away from her. She still hadn't figured exactly what it was about the pendant that was driving anything above thirteen years and male away from her, but one thing that Sarah knew was that the moment she got her "boyfriend" alone, she would get him to spill even if it came to blooding her knuckles a bit.

So of course when she slammed the door behind her, the house was totally empty. No Karen, no Toby and no Jareth. A note taped to the refrigerator told Sarah that Karen had taken Toby and Jareth out for some ice cream and then grocery shopping and that her step-mother expected to be back around five pm. The note also contained the instructions to have dinner ready by the time they returned, but Sarah ignored Karen's order and plunked down in front of the TV. She would order some Chinese later, right now there was no way she wanted to spend the next hour and a half slaving away in the kitchen making the dinner meal that Karen had told her to in the note (Jareth would thank her later, somehow she had a feeling that he wouldn't be really thrilled with eggplant casserole and meatloaf).

After the show that she was watching ended, Sarah picked up the telephone and ordered sweet and sour chicken, mu shu pork, stir fry veggies, fried rice with beef and egg rolls from the nearby Chinese delivery place. Heading into the kitchen, Sarah pulled out the old rusted cookie tin that was hidden behind the industrial sized container of canned spinach and took out twenty bucks to pay for the meal she had ordered. Her father and Karen thought that she was unaware of the stash of cash that they kept hidden as an emergency "dinner date" fund.

She figured that if they went out to fancy, expensive restaurants every weekend while leaving her behind to baby sit her step-brother, they could afford to pay for tonight's meal courtesy of Ming's Asian Cuisine. Hell the only reason why Karen even bothered to make Sarah cook was because she was rather stingy with letting Sarah, god forbid, actually have pizza once in awhile.

Karen's shrill voice interrupted her internal tallying of her step-mother's most annoying faults, yelling at her to come help unload the groceries and that dinner had better be ready or god help her, Sarah was going to be grounded. Thankfully Sarah was saved from having to face the unpleasant task that enduring Karen's presence was by the doorbell. With a whoop, Sarah dashed to the door, thrust the money into the stunned delivery boy's hand, told him to keep the change and snatched the bags out of his grip, spiriting them to the already set dinning room table.

Grinning madly, Sarah dumped the hot containers of Chinese food into the waiting bowls on the table and made a quick dash to the backyard to dispose of the boxes and plastic bags that the food had come in.

"SARAH!!!" Karen screeched, "what is this?"

Dashing back into the house, Sarah was met with a fuming step-mother.

"It's dinner," Sarah answered with a smirk.

"Sarah," Karen ground out, "this was not what I told you to make."

"Oh like eggplant casserole and meat loaf is so much better than Chinese," Sarah quipped.

"Sarah, you're groun-" Karen started in a threatening growl.

"It looks delicious," Jareth smoothly cut in, "I'm famished, shall we eat?"

Instantly the vengeful step-mother from Hell was replaced by the charming hostess.

"Oh of course, silly me," Karen cooed, "right this way, you can sit next to Sarah at the end, I'm sure that she won't mind, _won't you Sarah dear_?"

"Why of course not," Sarah answered with false sweetness, "I would love nothing better than to sit next to my _boyfriend_."

She stressed the word boyfriend, sending Karen the hidden message that Jareth was her boyfriend and that Karen should mind her own business. The smug rush of possessiveness that Sarah felt as Karen's jaw dropped open in shock lasted until she caught the amused and very knowing look that Jareth had on his face.

"That was quite an interesting show you put on Sarah," Jareth murumrred as they sat down, "what brought that on?"

"You spent the day with her, so you tell me," Sarah shot back in a quiet voice.

"Point taken," Jareth muttered with a grimace as he recalled the horrors he had to endure earlier that day.

After serving themselves and starting to eat, Jareth bent his head down so his mouth was right next to her ear and whispered to Sarah, his warm breath sending a pleasant shudder down her spine.

"So what were we supposed to have had for dinner Sarah?" he asked.

Sarah bent her head upward and whispered back.

"Eggplant casserole and meatloaf," she answered.

Jareth shuddered, a look coming onto his face that plainly said "yuck".

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart for not subjecting me to that torture," Jareth murmurred.

"Even I don't hate you enough to subject you to that," Sarah giggled.

Jareth pouted.

Sarah though that he looked adorable, though she kept the thought to herself. After all it wouldn't do to inflate his ego even more than it already was.

* * *

It took another hour after dinner to finally get Jareth to herself. Between her fawning stepmother, her father´s recounting of a particularly good business deal that made his firm buckets of money, and Toby´s dinnertime antics, it was hard to attract Jareth´s attention let alone be able to speak to him for more than three seconds. It took Jareth pleading exhaustion to get Sarah´s overly attentive stepmother and slightly protective father (Robert had finally realized that their houseguest was interested in "his baby girl") to get them to leave him alone.

Now safely enscorled in her bedroom (Sarah had checked several times to make sure they had no parental eavesdroppers outside her door), the dark-haired teen finally had the opportunity to grill the Goblin King at her leisure. Fingering the necklace that Jareth had given to her, Sarah launched her attack.

"An interesting thing occurred at school today," Sarah remarked.

"Hmm, do tell," Jareth prompted as he leaned her chair back against the vanity, placing his feet on her bed.

"Well for some reason it seems that the entire male population, barring Dad and Toby, has come down with some strange sickness that renders them incapable of being within twenty feet of me," Sarah replied as she shoved his feet off her bed.

His feet hit the floor with a slight thud, forcing the wild-haired blond to sit up straight.

"Fascinating," Jareth noted not really paying attention.

He leaned back and put his feet on her bed again.

Sarah´s expression darkened. Trying to get information out of Jareth was like trying to pull teeth.

She pushed his feet off her bed once again.

"Indeed," Sarah ground out, "this strange phenomenon was not present a few days ago though. It must be a recent thing."

She paused and pointedly looked at his boots. Jareth taking the hint put his feet down on the ground himself this time.

"Come to think of it," Sarah recalled, "this started right after I got this necklace from you."

Jareth yawned, feigning indifference.

"It also occurs to me that you are not effected by this _unknown_ phenomenon that repels anything male and over 12 years old," Sarah continued, "do you have any particular idea why?"

"I think that the answer should be self-evident," Jareth commented.

Sarah muttered a few choice words under her breath.

"Really Sarah," Jareth chided, "such words are really unbecoming to a young lady such as yourself."

The "young lady" in question inelegantly snorted.

"Give me one reason not to hit you where it hurts," Sarah growled, "I do not appreciate being marked as someone else's territory. You have no right to decide what I can and can´t do with my life. I am not your property Jareth!"

"I do not appreciate these boys that you associate with at your school sniffing around 'my girl' as you Abovegrounders put it," Jareth pointed out, "consider it a form of reducing the competition for your favor."

Sarah gave the chain around her neck a sharp, angry tug.

"It is useless to try to break or remove the necklace. It´s not coming off," Jareth added, "you were the one who laid down the groundwork for the next stage in this little contest between us. There is no time limit and few rules that I have to abide by in this game. Sarah, I always play to win, and this time I have every intention of winning the sweetest of prizes. You."

Sarah´s face was starting to turn red with anger. Jareth placed a finger under her chin and forced her to look him in the eyes.

"That pendant is to protect what is mine," the Goblin King softly growled, "and to keep you from cheating this time."

* * *

A shriek followed by a loud sound of a hand meeting flesh jerked Robert and Karen out of their sleep. Dashing to the door, Robert yanked it open just in time to see a colorfully cursing Jareth, arm still in sling, beat a hasty retreat from Sarah´s room, a red handprint marring the left side of his face.

Shaking his head, Robert dragged his slack-jawed wife back into their bedroom. The sound of Sarah´s bedroom door slamming finally snapping Karen out of her daze.

"Just like her mother," Robert muttered as Karen started demanding to know just exactly what had just happened.

* * *

"Good morning!" Karen cheerily announced as she swept through the living room on the way upstairs to wake up the rest of her family. The strawberry blond woman passed the still groggy Jareth in a tornado of white lace and pink ruffles.

With a groan Jareth turned over, pulling the pillow on top of his head as he tried to burrow into the couch. Dreams of never ending gobstoppers and self-cleaning castles danced beckoningly behind his eyes when the covers were brutally yanked off of him. The Goblin King let out an unconscious whine as he blindly flailed around for the missing warmth.

"Jareth."

He curled into a ball, stubbornly refusing to wake up yet.

"Jareth," the female voice repeated louder.

He ignored the voice.

A finger jabbed into his side.

"G'way," Jareth muttered.

"Jareth," Sarah growled, "get up right now or I'm getting a bucket of ice water."

The threat of dumping cold water on him finally did the trick. With a very put-upon groan, the Goblin King finally pried himself up off the couch and shot a much amused Sarah an evil glare.

"Wretched female," he grumbled as Sarah snickered.

"What? Is the great Goblin King not a morning person?" Sarah sweetly asked.

Jareth muttered something to the line of "shove it".

"Well Karen told me to tell you that breakfast is ready," Sarah relayed to him.

Seeing that Jareth was having a bit of difficulty with his sprained wrist, Sarah's mirth instantly changed to worry.

"It looks like that your wrist still giving you pain," she softly noted, "here, let me help you get up."

Warmed by Sarah's concern but too prideful to accept her aid, Jareth waved her off.

"Are you sure?" Sarah asked, biting her lip.

"I'll be fine," he replied, "besides, you need to eat if you want to get to school in time."

A strange, thoughtful look crossed her face.

_How odd is this,_ Sarah thought, _here I am in the living room having a conversation about me going to school with an ageless, mythical being as if it was a regular, everyday conversation. Other girls my age think about boyfriends, make-up and clothing, and their grades, but instead here I am crushing on the ruler of a magical kingdom who is probably twenty times older than I am. This is beyond weird._

Sarah abruptly blinked, bringing her back to the real world. She discovered, much to her embarrassment, that she had been staring at him the whole time. Gazing deeply into his bewitching eyes, her face drew closer to his, the world around them slowing…

"Sarah!" Karen yelled breaking the moment, "your breakfast is getting cold! I thought that I told you to get your boyfriend to come to breakfast, not to dawdle around wasting time!"

Sarah blushed at Karen calling Jareth her "boyfriend". Jareth blinked in surprise to the sudden change in atmosphere and Sarah's reaction to the statement. A sly smile crept over his face.

"Boyfriend, hmm? I think that I could get used to that," he mused out loud as Sarah's blush deepened.

"Sarah!" Karen yelled again.

"Coming!" Sarah shouted back.

Turning to Jareth she said, "come on, we better get to the kitchen table before Karen bursts a vein."

"Wouldn't that be such a shame," Jareth muttered as he got up and followed Sarah into the kitchen.

* * *

Another day at school, another day of watching every male student and teacher at her high school put as much space between them and herself as possible. As annoyed at Jareth as Sarah was, she had to admit that it was hilarious to watch the big bulky football jocks slamming repeatedly into the hallway lockers in their scramble to stay away from her.

Strangely enough no one even seemed to notice that anything was amiss or that boys hurdling themselves violently away from her was anything different from the norm. Sarah attributed the reaction (or lack thereof) as another effect of the spells placed on the owl pendant that she was wearing. Over the course of the day, the teen had resigned herself to the fact that Jareth had no intentions to remove the piece of jewelry and that she was going to have to learn to live with the necklace and its accompanying effects for the foreseeable future.

To Sarah´s great relief, she found the house devoid of her step-mother when she got home. To her shock and amazement, Sarah found the great, almighty Goblin King and her little brother fast asleep on the couch, Jareth curled protectively around the sleeping toddler. Deciding that this was too good of an opportunity to pass up, Sarah quietly crept up the stairs and got the camera from her parent´s bedroom.

The flash of the camera immortalizing the precious moment caused Jareth to come awake with a start. He blinked rapidly to dispel the afterimage of the flash from behind his eyes.

"What was that?" Jareth asked bewildered.

"I took a picture," Sarah explained, "you'll see it after the film gets developed."

Seeing his expression become even more bewildered, Sarah changed the subject, not wanting to explain cameras, film or developing photographs.

"Karen stuck you with baby sitting?" Sarah observed.

"Quite an agreeable chap," Jareth replied looking fondly down at the toddler, "I have a hard time imagining what he could have possibly done to warrant being wished away."

Sarah flushed in embarrassment.

"I had a bad day okay?" Sarah rapidly spoke, "what happened happened, I can't change the past and I learned my lesson. So just drop it."

"If you wish," Jareth shrugged, the action bringing Sarah's attention to his left arm resting in the blue sling.

"It didn´t take nearly as long for you to heal the first time," Sarah noticed, "what's up with the lack of magical healing?"

It was Jareth's turn to blush.

"Well, apparently the Labyrinth decided that I needed to learn a lesson in paying attention when I am flying in my other form and took away my accelerated healing that comes with my position," Jareth explained slightly flustered, "so I will have recover from my current injuries at the rate that humans do."

"So how long are we talking here?" Sarah asked.

"Two to four weeks until I can safely use my wrist without further injuring it according to the healer that your parents took me to," Jareth answered.

Sarah whistled, "that is going to be some debt you are going to have to payoff before you can go back."

"I know," Jareth glumly replied.

"Well you can start by taking me out on another 'date' tonight," Sarah immediately suggested keeping her voice quiet so as not to wake Toby, "I need to get out of the house tonight, Dad's having another business dinner at the house tonight."

"I know," Jareth repeated his earlier statement, this time with a hint of distaste, "if I have to spend another evening with your surrogate parent, I will be hard pressed in not having one of my goblins dump some bogwater on her."

"So we have a deal?" Sarah offered.

"Yes we do," Jareth responded with a big smile.

It was then that Toby decided to wake up. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing together with Sarah's little brother.

* * *

The two weeks followed the sort of pattern that Jareth and Sarah had fallen into on the second day of his stay at the William´s household. Either Karen or Sarah woke the Goblin King up in the morning and had breakfast together as a family.

Then on the weekdays, Sarah headed out to catch the school bus and came home from school at 3:30. Jareth either spent the day in the company of Karen and Toby as she did work around the house or baby sitting Toby when Karen went out shopping or to some social event (the recovering Goblin King vastly preferred the later of the two options).

If he had spent the day babysitting, Sarah and Jareth spent the afternoon entertaining Toby, often in the backyard or going to the park (Jareth was of the firm belief that growing children needed plenty of sunshine to properly develop). On the other hand, if Jareth had spent the day in the company of Karen, as was more often than not (Karen absolutely adored her step-daughter´s boyfriend, Jareth didn't return the sentiment), the moment she got home, Sarah after dumping her backpack next to the door and getting something to drink, without fail rescued Jareth from Karen´s clutches, dragging a very relieved Goblin King out of the house as soon as she could.

They usually returned around 5pm so Sarah could do her homework before dinner, where either she or Jareth usually announced that they were going out. Karen always let them go, no matter what plans there were for dinner, being so delighted that her surly step-daughter finally had a boyfriend and a very good looking one at that. After the fourth night Robert had put his foot down and gave Sarah a curfew, requiring them to be back before the 10 o´clock news came on on channel 5.

During the weekends, Jareth was not so lucky to get as much time with Sarah as he did during the weekdays. For according to the William´s tradition, weekends were for family time and without fail ever since she had started kindergarten, Sarah had been required to attend whatever activities that had been planned during the week.

Even though she was now in high school, Sarah still had to participate in the weekly family bonding activities. Jareth having become a permanent member of the William's for the time being, was dragged into the weekend festivities.

To his great surprise, Jareth actually found himself enjoying spending time with the entire William´s family during the weekend, Karen becoming much more pleasant and bearable when relaxing with her husband and children than when he was alone with the woman.

It was on their third date when Jareth announced that going on dates to get away from her parents could no longer count towards repaying his debt to Sarah. Since he now considered them to be officially courting as he put it, Jareth now had to do something else to payoff his debt to her. Since neither Robert nor Karen didn't believe in magic in the least bit (Karen still got after Sarah for having her head in the clouds) and Toby was too young to understand, it was to Sarah that the debt of freely offered hospitality in her home that Jareth owed.

As it turned out, Jareth's natural healing abilities were actually quite fast when compared to the average mortal. In exactly two weeks, the slightly baffled doctor announced that Jareth was completely recovered and gave him a list of exercises to do that would build the strength back up in his arm after being in a sling. Karen held an impromptu party the moment she, Sarah and her boyfriend returned home, even going so far as to break out an expensive bottle of champagne to celebrate Jareth's rapid recovery.

Sarah took one sip of champagne and promptly announced that it was the most vile thing on earth. Jareth drank the first glass that Karen handed to him, but politely declined a second. Karen then proceeded to enjoy the entire bottle and by the time Robert got home, he found his wife drunkenly hanging off of a mildly distressed Jareth.

After the party Sarah had accused Jareth of using his magic to enthrall her parents. She had found it quite unbelievable that he had been accepted into the house by her dad in the first place (Karen´s apparent affection for Jareth Sarah waved off due to Karen being Karen) but Jareth honestly told her that he had done absolutely nothing to her parents but be the model houseguest and boyfriend.

On the third day of his stay in the William´s household, Sarah had laid down some ground rules the first opportunity she had to be alone with Jareth. The list of things that HE MUST NOT DO included not experimenting with anything electrical without her supervision, staying out of Sarah´s room when she was gone, and no use of magic of any kind unless Sarah was present and he got permission to do so.

Now with one last dinner with the William's clan come and gone it was time for the Goblin King to return to the Labyrinth. As much as Sarah had enjoyed his company over the past two weeks the past few days he had become increasingly irritating, above and beyond what was normal for Jareth, and she was more than ready for a break from her live-in boyfriend.

Now since he was healed and her family had already said their goodbyes, there was nothing left for him to do but return home. But one small thing that was preventing his departure.

Jareth still needed to repay his "debt" to Sarah.

Now this presented a problem or would have if inspiration hadn't struck two days ago.

Sarah had been reading Aladdin in One Thousand and One Arabian Nights for her assigned reading from her Literature class. The teen had been idly musing what she would do if she had three wishes when Jareth had barged in, made himself comfortable on her bed and proceeded to drive her to distraction.

She had chased him out of her room with the threat of bodily harm ("But Sarah, I'm already injured, do you want to make it worse?" Jareth smirked, "Get out before I decide to give you a bloody lip," Sarah replied cracking her knuckles). But the damage had already been done. Thanks to Jareth she was now unable to concentrate enough to finish the rest of her homework.

She had gotten an F on that assignment but the seed of an idea had begun to germinate. It had come to full fruition two days later and now she was ready to implement it.

"So Sarah, any ideas to solve this latest dilemma?" Jareth inquired, casually leaning against a pillar on the front porch.

"I want a wish," Sarah promptly told him.

"Such a request is permissible, but it would have to be in my capabilities to fulfill it," Jareth cautiously replied.

"Oh it certainly is within your capabilities," Sarah answered with a mysterious smile.

"If it is what you want," Jareth acceded with hesitation.

"It is," Sarah simply said.

"Well, wish away," Jareth invited, resigned.

Sarah could hardly hide her glee, he had acquiesced to her request without a fight. It could hardly be more perfect. Not only would she be able to get rid of Jareth's debt, but she would get some much deserved payback on the Goblin King as well.

"I want you to experience what I have had to go through," Sarah began with a gleam in her eye that boded no good for a certain Goblin King.

Jareth gulped.

"I wish that the goblins would come and take you away right now!" Sarah shouted with much relish.

A horrified look crossed Jareth's face as he vanished in a shower of glitter. Cackling madly, Sarah dashed upstairs and pulled out the crystal that Jareth had given to her after their first date and eagerly watched the images unfold inside.

* * *

The Goblin King appeared outside the outer wall of the Labyrinth and promptly started to swear fluently. He went on for some time, finally ending with a cry of "blasted female!"

Hoggle's amused chuckle brought Jareth back to the present.

"The little missy wish you away did she?" the wizened dwarf chuckled, "you really must have done a number on her to get her to do that."

_Either that or be stupid enough to let her have a free wish_, the dwarf thought.

"Hedgehog," Jareth acknowledged the gatekeeper with disdain.

"Oh, the name´s Hoggle!" Hoggle yelled, stamping his foot.

Jareth smirked.

"Yes, whatever Higgle," Jareth airily replied, "now be a good coward and let me in the gate already."

"I don't have to if I don't want to," the dwarf shot back with uncharacteristic defiance.

"There is a lovely piece of the Bog of Eternal Stench with your name on it if you don´t do as ordered," Jareth threatened.

"Bah!" Hoggle spat, "since you were wished away by the little lady, you have to get through your rat maze without your powers and furthermore we (me or anyone else in the Labyrinth) don't have to help you in the slightest if we don't want to. And even better, you can't do anything to us if we don't help after you gets back to the castle."

"Hoggle," Jareth ground out.

"Good luck finding the gate on your own," Hoggle called over his shoulder as he started to walk off.

Jareth groaned, it looked like he would have to play nice with his most loathed subject if he wanted to make any progress anytime soon.

"Hoggle?" Jareth asked, "can you please," he almost chocked on the word, "show me where the gate is?"

"Well, when you puts it that way, how can I decline?" the dwarf scoffed.

Jareth had to hold in a growl.

"You gets in there," Hoggle pointed to a small gate on the previously blank brick wall.

"I'll be sure to remember your helpfulness in the future," Jareth promised as he stalked toward the gate.

* * *

Up in her room Sarah was laughing so hard that tears were leaking out of her eyes. Jareth's discomfort with having to be civil to Hoggle was just priceless. She wished (silently) that she could record the event forever.

* * *

"Oh and Jareth," Hoggle called as the gate shut behind him, "nice shoes."

Startled, Jareth looked down at his feet. Instead of the normal heeled boots that he used, a familiar pair of brown loafers encased his feet. The Goblin King couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of it all. Here he was having to transverse his own Labyrinth without the use of his magic wearing the exact same shoes that Sarah had been in when she did it.

"Oh Sarah," Jareth called out, knowing that she was watching his progress through the crystal he had given to her, "your shoes are surprisingly comfortable, I'll think that I'll keep them after this is all over."

* * *

Back in her room, Sarah chocked on her laughter when she heard Jareth's statement.

"That's not fair!" she protested, "those are my favorite shoes!"

Jareth's laughter echoed up from the crystal she was holding before he continued on his way.

The End (for now).

* * *

Here you go, the long awaited sequel to Window of Opportunity. Please leave a review on your way out. 


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